Pair of Vintage Double Tiger Tooth Motif Dzi Beads, 14.8×12.2mm & 14.8×12.1mm, agate (V-041122-DTT)

✦ All photographs are unretouched. ✦

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The cream on these beads is not a background — it is the field the motif moves through, and it covers more of the surface than the dark zones do.

Most tiger tooth dzi work through a dark ground with pale motif elements reading on top of it. These two beads reverse that relationship: the cream-white agate is the dominant element on every face, and the deep chocolate-brown tiger tooth forms sit within it as bold markings rather than lines on a dark base. The upper tooth on each face is a broad, upward-pointing V-chevron that spans the full width of the bead's body, its two wings meeting at a central peak. A narrow horizontal stripe band runs across the equator. Below it, a second tooth mirrors the first — pointing downward, the same broad V-form, the same dark chocolate-brown against the cream field. The composition is symmetrical and contained: two teeth, one stripe, nothing else on the face, and the cream ground filling everything between and around them.

The dark zones across both beads are deep chocolate-brown — warm in tone, consistent throughout, without the cool undertone that would suggest a different production era or stone type. Bead A (left in Images 2–4) has a slightly brighter, more clearly white cream field; Bead B reads with a marginally cooler, very slightly grey-tinged cream — the difference is subtle but visible when both beads are photographed together under the same lighting, as Images 2, 3, and 4 show. Both beads are compact barrel-oval in form, wider at the centre and gently rounded at the shoulders, the proportions sitting comfortably between a true barrel and a bicone.

Images 5 and 6 show the drilling ends of both beads. Bead A's end cap shows a warm honey-tan ring surrounding the drill hole — a natural agate colour variation at the tip. Bead B's end cap is cooler cream-white with a warm-toned ring of its own, slightly more orange in tone than Bead A's. These are natural agate variations between the two beads, consistent with Taiwan production from this period, where no two pieces from the same batch are ever quite identical in their internal colour distribution. Both drill holes are small, clean, and well-centred.

No cracks, chips, or surface marks are visible in any of the five photographs. This is confirmed as my own independent finding from the photographs. The surface on both beads is smooth and slightly glossy throughout — consistent with vintage Taiwan agate production from the 1980s, a period known for high-quality agate sourcing and careful surface finishing.

These are genuine vintage agate dzi beads from Taiwan's 1980s production period — not antique, not ancient, not faux-antique in design intent. They carry approximately forty years of age and the quiet surface character that four decades of handling produces: a gloss that has settled rather than been applied, and motif edges that have softened very slightly from their original sharpness without losing their definition.

The Double Tiger Tooth Motif

The tiger tooth (虎牙, hǔ yá) is one of the most direct and legible motifs in the dzi vocabulary — a bold inverted-V or mountain-peak form associated with the strength, courage, and protective power of the tiger in Tibetan and Chinese symbolic tradition. The double tiger tooth places two of these elements on opposing faces of the bead, one pointing upward and one pointing downward, with a horizontal stripe band at the equator creating a clear compositional division between them. The result is a bead that reads differently from its top half and its bottom half — the upper tooth confrontational and outward-pointing, the lower tooth grounding and stable — while remaining unified by the single stripe running between them. In Tibetan belief, tiger tooth dzi are worn for strength, the dispelling of fear, and the cultivation of personal courage. A matched pair amplifies these qualities, the two beads understood as a balanced and mutually reinforcing statement.

Spec Block

Motif: Double Tiger Tooth (雙虎牙 / Shuāng Hǔ Yá) — two bold V-chevron tiger tooth elements on opposing faces; single horizontal stripe band at equator; cream-white dominant ground; deep chocolate-brown motif zones
Length: 14.8mm (both beads)
Diameter: 12.2mm (Bead A); 12.1mm (Bead B)
Form: Compact barrel-oval pair; rounded shoulders; flat end caps; wider at centre
Material: Agate — cream-white dominant ground; deep chocolate-brown motif zones; natural colour variation at end caps between the two beads
Age Estimate: Vintage — Taiwan production, 1980s; approximately 40 years old
Condition: No cracks, chips, or surface marks visible in any photograph — independently confirmed. Smooth glossy surface throughout. Minor natural end cap colour variation between the two beads noted.
Bloodspots: None
Product ID: V-041122-DTT
Collection: New & Vintage Dzi | Pairs & Sets

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For genuine antique tiger tooth dzi in this collection, see At-052526-TaBS, At-092924-TaBS2, and At-093024-TaBS3. For new tiger tooth dzi pairs with bloodspots, see N-062426-TTBS. For the vintage round double wave Taiwan pairs in this collection, see V-060426-DWP and V-060826-DWP2 — same Taiwan vintage era, different motif and round form.

• What Are Dzi Beads? History, Meaning & Authentication
• The Meaning of Dzi Bead Motifs

Two teeth above, two teeth below, one stripe between them — and the cream does more work than the dark on every face.

✦ All photographs are unretouched. ✦

Photos: Unretouched product images. All photos taken by Ancient Dzi Shop.

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